D.V. “Douggie” YATES

Douggie was born in Australia but brought up in England, entering K.C. in 1925.  He was definitely one of the school’s more colourful sons, sharing a long and eventful association with Godfrey Evans and John Ching.  Among his achievements at K.C. were a high jump feat, recalled as “remarkable in inelegant”, and appointment as a Prefect, exercising the form of rough justice typical of the time.  He left K.C. with the fairly rare distinction then of a university place - studying metallurgy at London.

A love of elegant cars was obvious from his every appearance at Old Canterburian reunions.  At one of the first after leaving school he arrived in a handsome coach-built Rolls Royce.  In the early 1950’s he was among the first owners of the new Aston Martin DB/2 and Mercedes Benz 300 SL, the latter following an eventful trip to Stuttgart with John Ching.

For much of his career he ran a marcasite business in Birmingham, later joined by Godfrey Evans, living in Oxfordshire and then Staffordshire.  He died in May 1980 at the age of 68.